Despite (or perhaps because of) a turbulent political, economic, and regulatory climate, analyst predictions continue to point to 2017 as an active year for bank M&A transactions. On one side of the coin, it’s because large banks are striving to ‘bulk up’ in the face of regulations. On the other, it’s because small community banks are buckling to shareholder pressures and seeking to exit.

By nature, business owners are goal setters and innovators. They embrace the challenge to turn vision into reality. As your business grows locally, you might begin to think about expanding to another state as the next step. Whether that move is imminent or is part of a long-term goal, preparing for it requires that you think back and reassess the steps you took when you first started your business.

In 1965, Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel and Fairchild Semiconductor, predicted the amount of transistors in a dense integrated circuit would double every two years. He theorized that processing technology power, bandwidth and storage capacity would progress at the same rate. By 2015, that pace of advancement had slowed only slightly to closer about two and a half years, but his predictions largely have held true. We are in an age where technology is increasing so rapidly, it is no longer just changing. It is transforming.

If you’re planning to expand your financial institution into another city or state, whether through location based expansion or an M&A approach, proper planning is important. Building a plan before you embark on expansion can help to ensure the success of your growth, secure your compliance, and keep you from costly penalties.

Changes in technology, demographics, globalization, regulations, and interest rates have altered the business of banking dramatically. In the past few weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported that for the first time ever, more people are using mobile banking apps than going into bank branches on a weekly basis (39% versus 24%). The stat is not all that surprising. What is telling is how quickly we reached that pivot point.

Community banks have many strong assets that offer every reason for optimism. Even in the face of technology change, new demographics and increasing globalization of services, these smaller, local institutions have a host of leverageable assets.[1]

Minnie Johnson was born in 1889, and she lived for 100 years. I have often wondered about the changes and events my great-grandmother experienced over her lifetime. She witnessed every major American war except the Civil War. She experienced the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights movement, and the first person to walk on the moon. She was there for the invention of the AM/FM radio, television, automobile, airplane, computer, and even the first cell phone.

You’ve likely heard the phrase “awash in a sea of change.” During times of great advancement, companies often are distinguished by their ability to manage change or by the degree to which they’re overtaken by it. In the current Knowledge Economy, consumers have almost limitless access to information. That means they’re putting less value on a menu of products and services, and more on useful, actionable intelligence. It’s not surprising that banks are starting to recognize a greater need for shifting to being a source of customized solutions that meet real-time consumer needs.

Unpredictable and uncertain are terms often used to describe the future. Maybe that explains why so many in the banking industry opt to focus on what worked in the past as they strive to craft a growth strategy. The tide is shifting. We recently shared highlights from Daniel Burrus’s book Flash Foresight, which explains how focusing on the future is more effective than focusing on the past when working toward competitive advantage.

Over the seven-part blog series, Flash Foresight, HORNE will dig deeper into seven key growth principles. In this first post, we explain how to start with certainty by distinguishing between hard and soft trends, and understanding the way each can impact the future.

“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”

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Eric Hoffer, Philosopher

As discussed in our previous blog, Strategy Unlocks the Window of Opportunity, failing to recognize and plan for opportunities often leads to missed successes and the dreaded what if. As Hoffer eloquently observes, it is those who stay focused on learning and developing a strategy to capitalize on change that are best equipped to secure growth and prosperity long into the future.

Culture is not something you can see, touch or buy. It is an experience you feel within an organization and among its employees. While this definition of culture is practically universal, it has particular relevance for community banking, which is a fundamentally human endeavor.

In a recent discussion about Intelligent Growth Strategies, Renasant Bank leadership shared how a culture focused on inclusion, relationships and a shared vision drove their progress from a $550 million community bank in 1989, to a $5.8 billion regional institution in 2014.

Over the last three months, the HORNE Banking team has hosted a series of webinars focused on various growth strategies within the banking industry. We started by exploring the uptick in mergers and acquisitions activity with Christopher Olsen at Olsen/Palmer and moved into a discussion with John Mabry of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods about opportunities available for banks looking to go public.

The common theme across these discussions is the increased growth potential for banks that have a vision of who and where they want to be in the future. The institutions most likely to succeed are working toward clearly set goals with flexibility, discipline and focus.